Mechanical inking apparatus



. 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Sept. 30 1924.

c. F. WELDON MECHANICAL INKING APPARATUS Filed Sept. 1l, 1923 o C. F. WELDCN MECHANICAL INKING APPARATUS File@ sept. 11, 1923 5 sheets-sheet 2 C. F. WELDON MECHANICAL INKING APPARATUS Sept. 30, 1924. 1,509,888

Filed Sept. ll, 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 k *Y A gnvenljoz lletented Sept. 3Q, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IVIE(')l-IANIGAL INKING .AIPEARATUS To @ZZ whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, CHARLES F. VVELDON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Delavan, in the county of Walworth, vState of Wisconsin, have invented a new and useful Mechanical Inking Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a. full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The invention relates to mechanical inking devices for printing presses and has for its object to provide a device of this character wherein a stirrer is automatically moved. longitudinally, through the ink fountain of a press adjacent thefountain roller, thereby insuring a feeding of inkV of uniform consistency to the roller and prevent the formation of scum and the like on the ink.

A further object is to provide an agitator for printing press fountains, which may be easily and quickly applied to a printing press fountain without varying the construction of the press or fountain.

A further object is to provide a printing press fountain agitator .comprising a hori- Zontally movable agitator mounted on a guide rod, a feed screw extending through said agitator and adapted to move the agitator longitudinally for stirring ink within the fountain adjacent the fountain roller and to provide a reversing mechanism adjacent one end of the fountain, which reversing mechanism is controlled by a rod having stops in the path of stops carried by the agitator, and forming means whereby the direction of rotation of the feed screw will be changed as the agitator approaches the end of its movement.

.4 further object is to provide spring i mounted stops carried by the agitator for shifting the reversing gear mechanism, and allowing the reversing mechanism to easily shift. .i

With the above and other objects in view the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts as hereinafter set forth, shown in the drawing, described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention may be made within the scope of what is claimed Application filed September 11, 1923. Serial No. 662,102.

without departing from the spirit of invention.

In the drawings A Figure 1 is a top plan view of a conventional form of printing press fountain, showing the agitating device applied thereto.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the printing press fountain and agitating device.

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the reversing mechanism.

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4 4 of Figure 1.

' Referring to the drawing, the numeral 1 designates the fountain of a conventional form of printing press and 2 a fountain roller which takes up the ink from the fountain and transfers it to printing mechanism in the usual manner. Secured to the under side of the fountain 1 by means of bolts 3 are rearwardly extending brackets 4 and 5,

the

which brackets support the mechanism hereinafter set forth. The brackets 4 and 5 are provided with slots 6 for the reception of the bolts 3 so that the brackets may be easily and quickly applied and the bolts 3,

`which are ,standard bolts carried by the fountain 1 are utilized for supporting the device on the fountain without the neccssity of modifying the construction of the fountain while boring additional holes. Bracket 5 terminates in a rearwardly extending horizontally disposed plate 7, which plate supports the motor 8 and the gear casing 9, in which reversible clutch mechanism is disposed. Rigidly supported in eyes 10 carried by the upper side of the gear casing 9 and the bracket 4 isr a horizontally disposed guide rod 11 which is preferably hollow, and on which guide rod the agitator block 12 is slidably mounted, which-block supports the agitator arm 13, which extends into the fountain 1 to a point adjacent the fountain roller 2. During the operation of the device the agitator arm 13 moves longitudinally through the fountain 1 from one end to the other thereof, thereby agitating` the ink and thoroughly mixing the same, consequently ink taken up by the fountain roller 2 is of uniform consistency and color, and consequently the printing produced by the press will be uniform as to shade. Disposed beneath the guide rod 11 is a feed Cil Cil

rotation'to thegear 18 inthe screw 14, which screw is threaded through the agitator block 12, and consequently when rotated will move the guide block and agitator carried thereby longitudinally according to the direction of rotationof the feed screw. The feed screw 14 at one of its ends is mounted in a bearing 15 of the bracket 4L and the other end rotatably mounted in bearings 16 of the gear casing 9. Rotatably mounted on the feed screw let inside the gear easing 9 are gears 17 and 18, which gears are provided with clutchmembers v19y and V2O, with which the clutch members 21 rand, 22 carried by 'the 4slidab'le clutch element '23 cooperate for imparting rotation to' thefeed screw 14 in opposite directions-'aecordin'gl to theii'position of thefclutc-h"element'23, for instance byreferring to lFigure 3 the gear 18l and the shaft 14 are Vrotating in the direction of the varrow a at which time the agitator arm is movingin the direction ofthe arrow VUnder these vconditions the member 20 of the gear 18 isin engagement with thev member' 22 fof VtheV clutch element 25, therefore theshaft 14 rotates in the direction of the arrow a.4 Slidably mounted in bearings 24 of the bracket tand the gear casing 9 isa shift rod 25, which shift rod is provided with a clutch yoke 26 which engages the clutch element 23, and when the shift rod is moved longitudinally the clutch members 19 and 21, and the clutch members 20 and v2.2 are moved into and out of cooperative position at the ends'of `the stroke of the agitator arm 13. .Adjustably mounted on the shiftY rod 25 adjacent its end are fingers 27.

Vwhich fingers are inthe path of resilientlv supported members 28 carried by the. block 12, therefore it will be seen that as the members 28l come into engagement with the fingers 27 adjacent the ends of the strokes of the agitator 18, the shift rod will beshifted longitudinally according to the direction of movement of theA agitator larm and consequently theclutchyoke 26 will be shifted for rotating either gear 17 or 18 thereby changing the ldirection of rotation of the feed screw 14 and consequently insuring positive reciprocation ofthe stirrer 13 in the fountain 1 during'theoperation of the device. By resiliently mounting'the members 28 against the springs' 29, it willbe seen that banging ofthe device vat'th'e ends of the strokes will be obviated and'suieient play allowed to take Ncare of the period of time necessary for theshifting of the clutch element 23 by the yoke26.

Rotatably inount-ed in the gear casing 9 is a drive shaft 3Q, which Vdrive shaft is provided with va universal connection 31 with the'dri've-shaft l82 of the( motor Sand is constantly driven'bysaidY motor inthe clirecti'nof'tliearr'ow c, thereby imparting directionl rof the arrow a. at all times, however the feed screw 14C is not rotated except when the clutch element 23 is in the position shown in Figure 3. Drive shaft 3() is provided with a gear which meshes with a gear 2H- ear ried on a counter shaft and which gear 84 drives a gear 8G carried by a second counter shaft 87, thereby forming a gear train between the drive shaft 30 and the gear 18, with which the gear 8G meshes, thereby driving the gear 18 in the direction of the arrow a and the feed screw 11 in the vsame direction and the clutch element 23 is in the position shown in Figure 3. Vhenfpthe shift vrod 25 is shifted by the agitator n'reaching the ends ofits movement in the direction of the arrow b the clutch element 28 is moved into cooperative relation to thev gear 17whieh is idly mounted on the feed screw 14, however as the clutch element 28 is slidably keyed to the feed screw 14e, the gear 17 which rotates in the direction of the arrow d will rotate the clutch element and the feed screw 14 in the direction of the arrow b at an opposite direction to the previous operation of the screw, therefore the agitator arm 13 will bemovedlin the directionof the arrow e,

the above operationy continuing during the operation of the device. Idle gear 17 is rotated in the direction of the arrow Z by means of a gear 38 carried by the counter shaft 35 and consequently it' will be seen that` the'gears 17 and 18 rotate constantly in opposite directions during the operation of the motor 8. y y

From the above it willv be seen that 'an automatic ink stirring device is provided for printing presses wherein the ink in the fountain will be thoroughly stirred and uniformly distributed on the fountain roller at all times, and one which may be easily and quickly applied to a printing press without varying the construction ofthe press.

T he invention having been set forth what is claimed as new and usefulr is:

1. The combination with an ink fountain of a print-ing press, of ankink agitating device therefor, said device comprising an agitating member, a feed screw, a. guide rod, said agitating member beingv mounted on said feed screw and guide rod, a power shaft, gear and clutch connections between the power shaft and feed screw, a clutch control `rod slidably mounted and nornila'll'v independent of theagit'ating member, adjustable stops carried by said clutchcontrol rod and yieldably` mounted stops carried by theagitating member in the path of the; adjustable stops.

2. The combinationfwith a printing press fountain'agitating'4 device, said device comprismg` an agltatmg member, a feed screw on which the' agltatmg 'memberis mounted,

means for rotating said feed screw, clutch means for intermittently reversing the direction of rotation of the feed screw, of an independent siida'bly mounted Clutch control rod, spaced stops Carried by said clutch oontrol rod at Opposite sides of the agitating member, and yieldable members Carried by the agitating member in the path of the spaced stops and forming means fOr reversing the direction of rotation of the feed 10 screw through the clutch.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subseribin@ Witnesses.

OIiARnns EWELDON.

Witnesses:

H. C. JOHNSON, E. S. RICHARDSON. 

